Speaking of membership in Facebook groups, Frida, Leave the cast of Futurama alone!, which seems to be the largest with 631 members already, has Maurice LaMarche as one of its admins. I think we can now safely rule out that this is a viral marketing ploy that the VA's are in on.

Well, I've just joined that group...

Oddly enough, Maurice is no longer admin and the mention of him being made one on his page was deleted. It's still cool that he's in the group, perhaps other VA's will join the group as well.

It's a negotiating ploy by 20th Century Fox studio. It's the same thing they did w/ the Simpsons several years ago. They're hoping to scare the actors into accepting lower pay.

They don't think that it matters to the audience who is doing the voices. If people's emails don't convince them, maybe they'll find out at the Comic-Con panel next week.

Let the powers-that-be know how you, the people who gave the show ratings, bought DVDs, put money in their pockets and brought the show back from the dead, feel about the recasting.

Making this announcement a week before Comic-Con really was a dumb move on Fox's part. I mean, they can't expect the fans to back them on this, so why are they opening themselves up to such concentrated, dorky ire?

You know, this makes me think about what would happen if suddenly one of the VA's died. Would they do what they did with Phil Hartman on The Simpsons and retire his characters, or would they recast them? I would far rather they retire the character, out of respect for the original VA.

It then makes me wonder what the show would've been like if Phil Hartman had lived and voiced Zapp. I'm sure there would be even more characters for him, much like how Maurice has a bunch of hilarious peripheral characters. Wow, I'm getting a fangasm just thinking about the possibility. And now depression knowing it won't ever happen.

Edit: Another thought: it would be so awesome if they released Phil's audition for Zapp. Hell, it would be cool if they released all the auditions. I want to hear DXC's Bender!

homerjaysimpson: What? Billy would still be in to voice Fry, The Professor, Richard Nixon, and Zoidberg. Not to forget all the other roles he performs (like Smitty, the fat bum, ect.). Going by The Simpsons, Hartman would have only had 2 or 3 major roles with a rare minor role. Billy would have very much been in the show (and near as important as he is now).

i_c_weiner: I've always hoped that they would one day release his audition tape. Maybe they haven't because they feel it's disrespectful in some way (and it would be weird, since the time to do it would have been on the 1st Season DVD Set).

Oh! There is one change we know for sure would have been different had Hartman lived. Fry's first name would have been Curtis rather than Philip.

I think Phil Hartman would have been the main player and Billy West wouldn't have been in the cast at all. Too bad

Are you serious? Billy West was always going to do Fry and be the main player regardless. Sounds to me like you have a personal dislike for Billy West, were you the one from this board who stalked him and got banned from Billy's site?

Um, nobody suggested that he would've done Fry's voice. And he was supposed to do Zapp, Matt had written the part just for him. I was suggesting that he would've probably been a sizable player in the series if he had lived.

And, Fistful, it's not just his tapes I'd like to see/her but all the VA's on the show. It would be interesting to see how one person might've interpreted a part before actually recording the role, or how someone interpreted a role differently (like DXC's Bender), or just to hear about what other wacky people auditioned for the show.

From Wikipedia:Up until 1998, the six main actors were paid $30,000 per episode. In 1998 they were then involved in a pay dispute in which Fox threatened to replace them with new actors and went as far as preparing for casting of new voices. However, the issue was soon resolved and from 1998 to 2004, they were paid $125,000 per episode.

In 2004, the voice actors intentionally skipped several table reads, demanding they be paid $360,000 per episode. The strike was resolved a month later and they now earn something between $250,000 and $360,000 per episode.

In 2008, production for the twentieth season was put on hold due to new contract negotiations with the voice actors, who wanted a "healthy bump" in salary to an amount close to $500,000 per episode. The dispute was soon resolved, and the actors' salary was raised to $400,000 per episode.

In comparison to The Simpsons current wage, the alleged demands by the Futurama cast seem paltry. By that point in The Simpsons the show had done twice as many episodes Futurama will have by the end of this new episode order, so their demand of twice as much salary as what the Futurama cast is asking seems pretty fair.

Another difference between the two is that the higher numbers on those spectra probably only apply to Dan Castellaneta, Hank Azaria, and Harry Shearer, who are like the Billy West and Maurice LaMarche of The Simpsons. However, they do a whole lot more characters than these guys do, but that's expected since they've been through almost four times as many episodes as Futurama. Hopefully some new characters are introduced, or some characters from the movies are carried over (League of Robots and Fanny come to mind) to create an even larger universe.

What exactly are you complaining about? I thought you would have been happy to see more futurama fans. The more this show has, the more likely it will be to have more episodes commissioned and continue longer. Also we need as many fans as possible to convince them that the original actors are worth the money because then they'll make the money back in viewership and DvD sales. Don't be angry just because newbies like me have signed up to PEEL....we want to have a part in discussing this New Futurama too.

I think Phil Hartman would have been the main player and Billy West wouldn't have been in the cast at all. Too bad

Are you serious? Billy West was always going to do Fry and be the main player regardless. Sounds to me like you have a personal dislike for Billy West, were you the one from this board who stalked him and got banned from Billy's site?

This never happened when Family Guy returned, why are they doing this to Futurama? FOX, get the damn point, stop trying to control the damn shows just because its on your network. Because there not your shows, they are the creators, but the shows belong to the fans of the shows. I guess its the same speech you need in the South Park ep, "Free Hat" about the remake of the films that also apply to TV Shows.

From Wikipedia:Up until 1998, the six main actors were paid $30,000 per episode. In 1998 they were then involved in a pay dispute in which Fox threatened to replace them with new actors and went as far as preparing for casting of new voices. However, the issue was soon resolved and from 1998 to 2004, they were paid $125,000 per episode.

In 2004, the voice actors intentionally skipped several table reads, demanding they be paid $360,000 per episode. The strike was resolved a month later and they now earn something between $250,000 and $360,000 per episode.

In 2008, production for the twentieth season was put on hold due to new contract negotiations with the voice actors, who wanted a "healthy bump" in salary to an amount close to $500,000 per episode. The dispute was soon resolved, and the actors' salary was raised to $400,000 per episode.

In comparison to The Simpsons current wage, the alleged demands by the Futurama cast seem paltry. By that point in The Simpsons the show had done twice as many episodes Futurama will have by the end of this new episode order, so their demand of twice as much salary as what the Futurama cast is asking seems pretty fair.

The Simpsons also airs on network TV, which pulls in way more revenue than cable, and sells an ass-load of merchandise. I think the Futurama actors are overreaching a bit unless there's already a deal in place with FOX or another network that we don't yet know about (in which case they should also go with a full, well-paid stable of writers and ramp up the animation as well).

So do all 6 voice actors get paid the same? Seems a bit unfair that someone like Yeardly Smith who only those one voice which is just her own voice gets paid the same as Dan Castellaneta who does about 6000 different voices.

So do all 6 voice actors get paid the same? Seems a bit unfair that someone like Yeardly Smith who only those one voice which is just her own voice gets paid the same as Dan Castellaneta who does about 6000 different voices.

Not to mention that Yeardly Smith uses her time on The Simpsons to advertise for Scientology. Oh and, yes, she gets paid the same.

Edit after some research it turns out I am wrong. Yeardley Smith is not a Scientologist. Anyway, I know then Nazy Cartwright uses her voice acting on The Simpsons to advertise for Scientology, in addition to sending all her money of a year's work to the Church.

Mossy, interestingly, Matt Groening have little to do with The Simpsons any more. Obviously he owns the IP and whatnot, and is of course executive producer and whatnot, but he remains somewhat un-associated with the programme.

From my gathering, Matt Groening is more interested in Futurama. And he seems to engage more actively in it than The Simpsons. Obviously, so is David X. Cohen, but we all know Futurama is like Cohen's love child.

Oh and, 20th Century Fox have already ordered two more seasons, so there will be a 22th The Simpsons season. How unfortunate that must be.

I think Phil Hartman would have been the main player and Billy West wouldn't have been in the cast at all. Too bad

Are you serious? Billy West was always going to do Fry and be the main player regardless. Sounds to me like you have a personal dislike for Billy West, were you the one from this board who stalked him and got banned from Billy's site?

I think Phil Hartman would have been the main player and Billy West wouldn't have been in the cast at all. Too bad

Are you serious? Billy West was always going to do Fry and be the main player regardless. Sounds to me like you have a personal dislike for Billy West, were you the one from this board who stalked him and got banned from Billy's site?

I didn't stalk anyone and it's a long story, let's leave it at that!

Well, if you would stop making your little petty digs at him every chance you get.

The Simpsons also airs on network TV, which pulls in way more revenue than cable, and sells an ass-load of merchandise. I think the Futurama actors are overreaching a bit unless there's already a deal in place with FOX or another network that we don't yet know about (in which case they should also go with a full, well-paid stable of writers and ramp up the animation as well).

According to this article from 2003, Fox pulls in over $100MM/year from Simpsons merchandise and another $100-150MM/year from syndication deals.

It'd be awesome if Futurama got to that point, but I don't think it's quite there yet.

The Simpsons also airs on network TV, which pulls in way more revenue than cable, and sells an ass-load of merchandise. I think the Futurama actors are overreaching a bit unless there's already a deal in place with FOX or another network that we don't yet know about (in which case they should also go with a full, well-paid stable of writers and ramp up the animation as well).

According to this article from 2003, Fox pulls in over $100MM/year from Simpsons merchandise and another $100-150MM/year from syndication deals.

It'd be awesome if Futurama got to that point, but I don't think it's quite there yet.

Only reason they are still renewing it. Needless to say, I feel content wise and acting wise, the Futurama cast is more deserving. But certainly not as profitable for Fox.

What exactly are you complaining about? I thought you would have been happy to see more futurama fans. The more this show has, the more likely it will be to have more episodes commissioned and continue longer. Also we need as many fans as possible to convince them that the original actors are worth the money because then they'll make the money back in viewership and DvD sales. Don't be angry just because newbies like me have signed up to PEEL....we want to have a part in discussing this New Futurama too.

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